Polyp bail-out

oldsaint · Mar 17, 2009

I assumed favites reproduce by broadcast but under stress I guess almost any coral will bail-out.

This coral was under some serious stress. When my 260 collapsed I had a few friends come over and we removed all the dead corals and fragged what we could then dumped the rock in separate tubs to be cooked. Unfortunately this brain was missed. It sat in a tub with a few pieces of rock that I had planned to just let dry out. It sat there in water with no light, no circulation, nothing for 2.5 -3 months. When I went to pull the rock out I noticed the brain. To my amazment it still had some color. Notice the first pic. So I gave it a good iodine bath and stuck it in my 55. I've done nothing but give it good water quality and feed it mysis shrimp soak in selcon, once it started to show tissue growth.
No real question here, unless there's something I need to watch for in the future. I'm just amazed at the resiliency of this coral.
First day

under actinics showing a little tissue

back in Dec 08

Now

returnofsid · Mar 17, 2009

I believe this is called "Budding," though it's similar to "Polyp Bail Out" that SPS do. I've had a Favite do the same thing and it's rather cool to watch. Mine never completed the process though and the "melting" polyps returned to the colony.

I've also had a Hammer Coral and Frogspawn do this. With both, it took awhile for the dropped polyps to form any skeleton growth and for a long time, I thought they'd died. I later found the Frogspawn with skeletal growth.

oldsaint · Mar 17, 2009

I was wondering if it would be considered budding. My understanding of budding is the two would still share the common body of the colony through the tissue coenosarc. With this disconnecting completely from the colony I assumed it would be polyp bail-out.

BTW, Nice pic and coral

returnofsid · Mar 17, 2009

I believe with budding, it depends on the type of coral. Zoanthid budding would share the same base. I think most LPS budding, they share the same tissue until the "bud" is able to survive on it's own, and then they separate. I believe with Polyp Bail Out, all polyps "pop" out of the skeleton and leave the skeleton dead. Then the polyps "settle" and form new colonies. I'm unsure though, and this could be considered Polyp Bail Out. It's a really cool process to watch!!